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This is my first attempt at making cheesecake, AND making cheesecake with yogurt and crème fraîche. There are so many great sources for cheesecake that I never had the need to spend several hours creating this treat. But I’m glad I did. This is a nice alternative to the standard recipe – creamy, with a slightly lighter weight to it.

I use homemade yogurt (made from Half & Half) and crème fraîche, and I drip the yogurt to get more moisture out of it. I did this by placing the yogurt in a paper towel over a strainer, which was sitting in a saucepan. I leave it there for about a minimum of 15 minutes, but the longer the better. I usually drip it overnight, covered in the refrigerator (yup, the whole saucepan setup). While I secretly wanted to obtain a luxurious creamy taste that one gets from using cream cheese and heavy cream, I would have been happy if it was edible.

I also decided not to use my springform pan, and instead I used a pie plate (mostly because I didn’t have enough yogurt to fill up the springform pan). With this recipe, the plate should not really matter and you don’t need a water bath in the oven, as so many other recipes call for (at least I didn’t). However, next time, I’m using the springform pan and doubling the recipe so that it looks like a classic New York style cheesecake.

Update: I made this recipe again and this time I probably should have put a water bath in the oven with the cheesecake because it did crack a bit on the top. I don’t mind the little bit of cracking, but if you do, take precautions by covering the outer edge of the cheesecake with foil and then submerge it halfway in a water bath.

At the end, I quickly whipped up some cherry coulis by simmering frozen sweet cherries, honey and a small amount of lemon juice for about 5 to 10 minutes. This technique will work for any berries you have on hand or in the freezer. You can serve this warm or cold.

13 Responses to Cheesecake (with yogurt and crème fraîche)

This looks so good, but did this come out creamy, or did it have a grainy texture? Every time I have tried a cheesecake, they always come out with a strange (uneatable for me) texture. Also how do you make the creme fraiche?

No grainy stuff in my cheesecake. I used honey though – not sure why you would have a grainy texture (sugar?)
Creme fraiche is heavy cream that is fermented just as you would do with yogurt. So you can make it in the same way. Here is where I talk about creme fraiche: http://www.comfybelly.com/2008/12/creme-fraiche.html.

I tried this recipe and found that my cultured half+half must have been far to “wet” still because it totally soaked the crust and made it a gooey mess. A delicious gooey mess, but a mess nevertheless. Any recommendations?

Oh JoAnne. Sorry to hear that. Yeah, it sounds like it was still too wet. The longer you drip it, obviously the drier it will be. There’s probably no drawback to having it as dry as possible, so my recommendation is to drip it overnight.